Life of Being a Crown Prince in France

On the white sandy beach of Brest, two barefoot teenagers carrying wicker baskets walked briskly over the salt-white fine sand, occasionally stopping to pick up something and skillfully toss it into the narrow-mouthed basket.

The girl in a coarse cloth dress glanced at the sun beginning to set in the west, and said worriedly, “Brother, I always feel that Mr. Waku will see through your lies… Or, if we go and admit our mistake now, we might avoid punishment.”

The boy’s eyes fixed on two small holes in the sand, his small wooden shovel accurately digging about 20 centimeters away, and then he found an egg-sized seashell in the overturned sand.

“It’s too late to admit it now. I’ve skipped a whole day of class.” He looked at his sister and said, “Besides, he would probably remember the previous three classes too.”

“But what if…”

“Think of the all-powerful Captain Jacques, and his magical Compass!” the boy said in an enticing tone, “Don’t you want to know if Miss Isabelle and Mr. Gailin finally get married?”

He was talking about the plot from the previously popular play, “Pirates of the Caribbean.” Isabelle and Gailin were the original characters Elizabeth Swann and Will Turner from the original work, also his sister’s favorite characters.

Just three months after the premiere of “Pirates of the Caribbean”, news spread that the sequel “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Soul Gathering Coffin” was going to be staged nationwide.

The girl immediately showed a look of conflict. This play was simply the dream of everyone living by the sea, whether they were 70-year-old seniors or 7-year-old kids, and she was no exception.

If she could adventure at sea like Miss Isabelle, she would give up everything.

Her brother continued to encourage her: “If we can catch a blue lobster or a large sea eel this time, we could buy two tickets for the front row!

“You could even clearly see Mr. Gailin’s beard.”

The girl no longer thought about her brother skipping class: “Blue lobsters and sea eels aren’t so easily caught.”

“It’s okay, even if we only find a few conches, we can buy two tickets in the middle.”

In the small town where they lived, a ticket for “Pirates of the Caribbean” only cost 1 sous, but they were enthusiastic fans, so they had to go to Brest to see the big theater troupe perform to be satisfied.

Tickets there cost 4 sous, and the good seats they mentioned were a whopping 3 francs.

Fortunately, they had lived by the sea since childhood. As long as they had enough time, they could rely on the sea god’s gifts—a basket of freshly picked razors, scallops, and whelks could be sold in Brest for 3 sous.

They had skipped classes three times before, saving up as much as 1 franc and 6 sous!

Of course, this was only after Brest implemented a free primary school system, before which kids crowded the beach, needing three people to snatch one crab.

The siblings began discussing the plot of Captain Jacques again. They had seen the play three times already, but their enthusiasm had not diminished.

“Karen, who are those people?” the boy suddenly stopped, frowning as he looked towards the distant part of the beach.

Large groups of figures could be vaguely seen there, dressed in luxurious clothes, standing in neat rows in the middle of the beach.

“Maybe they’re the noble lords here to watch the sunset,” Karen whispered.

Nobles often visited here; sometimes they even had barbecues or held balls on the beach.

“This is terrible…”

This was the only way to their ‘treasure house’. If they went around, it would probably be dark by the time they got there.

The boy gritted his teeth and waved his hand at his sister: “Let’s give it a try.”

They had read in the newspapers that the Crown Prince had issued the Declaration of Human Rights, so even noble lords couldn’t beat or scold them at will, let alone have their people catch them.

At worst, they would sincerely apologize to the noble lord, and it should be okay to get home safely.

The two walked another hundred meters or so before they were unexpectedly stopped by a tall guard with firearms on his back: “Sorry, you can’t pass through here temporarily.”

“We want to get to the reef on the other side. We promise not to disturb anyone…”

“In three hours, or tomorrow.”

The boy craned his neck to look past the guard: “May I ask which lord…”

Before he finished speaking, he seemed to see a golden royal fleur-de-lis emblem on the carriage in the distance, and he shrank back.

It turned out to be a Royal Family member. It seemed impossible to buy front-row tickets this time.

He was about to pull his sister away when he heard a lady’s soft, pure Paris accent: “Holy Mother Mary, please grant us guidance. I clearly saw that little thing burrow in there…”

A sturdy young man standing next to her, wearing a white cavalry shirt and a tricorn hat, started digging vigorously but still came up empty-handed.

“Uh, it seems to be harder than I imagined…”

The young man was Joseph.

He remembered watching tidal videos before, where snail shells and crabs were everywhere and could be picked up easily.

But today, when he and his mother tried it in person, he realized it wasn’t that easy at all.

A thumb-sized crab could run faster than a rabbit.

When it looked to be just 30 centimeters away, by the time you reached for it, it had disappeared 5 meters away.

There were also some that were so good at digging that they rivaled the “digging bugs” in science fiction films, just a few flicks of their legs and they could dig half a meter deep.

As the lady was discouraged and threw the small shovel, sitting on the sand and panting, Karen, on a whim, blurted out: “Stick the shovel beside its breathing hole, then dig from the other side. It’s definitely in the sand.”

“Who’s there?” Kesode immediately became alert and put his hand on the sword hilt.

A trusted aide quickly said, “They’re local residents, sir. I’ll have them leave right away.”

Queen Mary, however, looked at the girl’s wheat-colored, pretty face and waved her hand, “Do you know how to catch crabs?”

“Yes, dear madam.” The girl bashfully hid behind her brother and whispered, “Not just crabs, we can also catch whelks, eels, and blue lobsters.”

“Mr. Curtis, please let them come over,” Joseph nodded to the trusted aide.

The girl approached Queen Mary, looking at her splendid clothing and fashionable hairdo, and her face as beautiful as a fairy, but nervously pinched the hem of her clothes, not daring to speak.

Her brother glanced at the small hole on the ground, quickly stepped forward, used the wooden shovel to measure a few times, and then pulled out a small crab from it.

“Aha, you’re a genius!” Queen Mary took the crab, laughing like a child, “Can you teach me how to catch them?”

“Of course, dear madam.”

The boy glanced around, walking to another small hole a few steps away, took a small cloth bag from his pocket: “There’s a razor clam here; you see, just like this…”

He poured white powder from the cloth bag into the hole, and a few seconds later, a “wooden stick” the length of a finger poked out.